Recent Acquisitions from Independents Show Change of Times in WWE

It was about a decade ago when the top stars in the WWE were either giants or bodybuilders turned sports entertainers.

But now we've seen new stars like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk win world championships and rising stars being brought up like Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

None of these men would have received a look years ago, especially in the 1980s, with the top stars like Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior looking like Greek gods.

In the last month, we've seen the WWE sign an independent star in El Generico and, most recently, a NCAA All-American wrestler in Clayton Jack, according to Oregon State University's athletic website.

On Jan. 17, PWMania.com reported that the WWE is giving a three-day tryout to Ring of Honor stars Mark and Jay Briscoe, as well as SamiCallihan and Ricky Reyes.

Could it be that the WWE is going to give less focus on larger wrestlers and place more value on athletic ability and ring skills?

For a fan like me, this is a move that I've hoped for since the debacle that was the Brock Lesnar and Goldberg match at WrestleMania XX.

While it's key to have a few powerhouses on a main roster, I feel that if you have a roster that is led by as a lot of power-focused wrestlers, then the product can become a bit boring.

While there are still some big wrestlers like Wade Barrett and Sheamus, they aren't your run-of-the-mill huge guys that WWE officials have been known to give huge pushes to in the past (i.e., Batista).

We still have a few powerhouses currently developing like Ryback and Big E Langston, but it's a smaller number when you look at the recent debuts of Rollins and Ambrose and consider that Punk and Bryan are now top-tier talents.

And let's not forget Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio and Antonio Cesaro as examples of very talented ring technicians.

In addition, the NXT roster has some great talent in guys like KassiusOhno (formerly Chris Hero), who also comes from the independent circuit.

With the last year of action on WWE television, I'm excited for what we could see as future main events.